In Age of Wonders 4, the culture you choose changes the whole game. Here’s what you need to know about each.
Age Of Wonders 4 is the latest game in the Age Of Wonders series. It was made by the Dutch company Triumph Studios. This is a 4X strategy game like Sid Meier’s Civilization, but with a magical twist, like the other games in the series. Players won’t be in charge of the armies of the different countries on Earth during human history. Instead, they will be in charge of the Ruler of a Faction that they create. In a fantasy world that can be changed in any way the player wants, they can lead their Faction to success or ruin by making choices within their own culture and dealing with other Faction through diplomacy or war.
In Age of Wonders 4, when you make a Faction, you have to choose a society to follow. Each culture has its own unique units, structures, and bonuses to certain traits, which will help players decide how to focus their playthrough.There are a total of six cultures, and it’s part of the fun for new players to figure out how each one works. However, it’s still good to know the basics of each one before getting into the meat of the game with a new Faction.
Feudal
A feudal faction comes out of the ruins of warring kingdoms, so its culture is based on growth, expansion, and the well-being of the group as a whole. Most of the buildings that are unique to a Feudal Faction’s culture will be related to Food production, which will increase the Food income of their cities. The more food a city makes, the faster its population grows. This speeds up both the growth of that city and the need to start new ones nearby. Since this is the case, the most important thing for a feudal culture to do is to spread its kingdom far and wide.
Units in the Feudal Faction all have an upgrade called “Stand Together,” which makes their damage 20% higher when they fight close to other friendly units. This makes it more likely for players to make their units fight in tight groups. Heroes from a Feudal Faction can also become Feudal Lords. There are five titles to give, and each gives a city a bonus in either Food, Knowledge, Mana, or Production if that Lord is placed as the city’s governor. The last title, “Lord of War,” will heal and increase the range of movement for all units that win a fight with that Lord as their leader.
High
The Lords and Ladies of a great and powerful society make up high cultures. Their reach has grown beyond the limits of growth, and their power now comes from their vast and powerful knowledge. So, structures that are special to a High Faction’s culture are mostly about making Knowledge, which speeds up the rate at which players can research Tomes to learn new skills and spells, and making a city more stable so that its people don’t get angry and try to take over.
High-Faction units get a bonus from the Awakened upgrade, which gives all of their base hits +4 Spirit damage and also turns on any dormant Traits. All units have these Traits when they go into battle, and when they are awoken, they make their stats better in a way that fits their role on the battlefield. The accuracy of Dusk Huinters will be better, the defense of Dawn Defenders will be better, and so on. There is also an Alignment chart for High Factions to use. Players’ Faction will get different bonuses based on how well they treat their people and how stable their cities are as a result.
Barbarian
When it comes to how much they want to grow, a Barbarian Faction will be similar to a Feudal Faction in some ways. Feudal cultures, on the other hand, focus on growing their countries. Barbarians, on the other hand, focus just as much on building and keeping up a huge army. Their structures, which are unique to their cultures, bring in both Food and Production income for their cities. This helps the people grow and brings in a lot of new units.
When striking units from the Barbarian Faction attack, they do 8 damage in addition to their normal damage on the first hit. This puts the enemy at a disadvantage right away. The Ritual of Alacrity can also be used by Barbarian factions. This Ritual can be used in any city or outpost controlled by the Barbarian Faction. When the Ritual is used, all units stationed there will quickly get back 50% of their health and all of their movement. Also, those groups will no longer be too tired to march when they have to. All of these are meant to encourage constant attacks and battles, so that you can grow as much by taking over as you do by building.
Industrious
As their name suggests, the main goals of the Industrious Factions are to build and look for resources. Their structures that are unique to their society mostly bring in money from Production, which can be used to build more structures, which bring in more Production money, and so on. That Production can also be used to strengthen and harden the soldiers of the Faction.
The fighting units of Industrious Factions can also be strengthened in either defense or resistance. Protection from physical damage comes from defense, and protection from magic damage comes from resistance. But there’s more to the word “boost” than that. When a unit is Bolstered against a certain type of damage, their defense against that type of damage rises, up to 5 times. This culture’s battles are very fun because its units get harder to kill as the fight goes on, thanks to this effect. Lastly, any cliff, mountain, or other rock feature that an Industrious Scout finds can be Prospected for Gold and Production.
Dark
Dark Factions is a dictatorial vampire society that doesn’t care about the comfort and happiness of its people. Instead, it is more interested in gaining knowledge and taking over other places. They can get rid of the penalties that come with having negative Stability in their cities. This lets them focus less on making food and more on recruiting units and learning new things without worrying about social unrest.
Units in a Dark Faction can give their targets Weakness, which does just what it sounds like: it makes them weaker. But when a Dark unit attacks an enemy unit that has been weakened, it quickly gets some of its health back. The more hits they land, the more health they’ll heal. They also earn extra Knowledge on top of what their culture-specific buildings give them by using Crypts to bring back dead Faction Heroes and Prisons to lock up enemy Heroes.
Mystic
Mystic Factions are the only ones who can really cast spells. Their Happy Wheels buildings, which are unique to their cultures, bring in Mana, which is used to cast spells and find out how to make new ones. The Altar of the All-Seers is a great example of this in a city building. As players explore, they can pick up Astral Echoes, which give either Knowledge or Mana. The Altar of the All-Seers gives extra money based on how many Astral Echoes are found.
Attunement: Star Blades is a skill that mystic units have. When a spell is cast during battle, all units with this ability will have either fire, lightning, or frost damage added to their base attacks. This can happen up to three times, so it is possible for a Mystic Faction’s units to take all three types of damage during a fight. This is made even better by the fact that Mana is made in Mystic towns. If there are more Mana reserves, more spells can be cast in battle.
Age of Wonders 4 came out on May 2, 2023, for the PS5, the Xbox Series X/S, and the PC.